Fraudster, posing Army Lieutenant, dupes Lucknow eatery of samosas worth Rs 28,000

The man called one of the owners of the shop and ordered samosa and later conned them during payment

Lucknow: A highly popular eatery in Lucknow, famous for its tea and ‘samosa‘, was scammed of Rs 28,000 by a cybercriminal posing as an Army Lieutenant, on the pretext of ordering samosas.

The man called one of the owners of the shop and ordered samosa for a week-long official event. He later conned the owner during payment. Lalit Sharma, the owner of the eatery in the Lalbagh area, said that his wife Nidhi Sharma was cheated of Rs 28,000.

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“We are yet to lodge a written complaint with the cyber cell, while an online application has been given,” he said. According to reports, the manager Rajkumar Yadav received a call on June 30. The caller introduced himself as an Army Lieutenant and said that there was training in the command centre for 15 days and snacks for 50 people were to be served in the morning and evening.

After this, on July 1, the caller called him to the Command Hospital in Cantt with the order. He said that payment would not be possible on a bar code and that a mobile number was required. “The manager Rajkumar gave the mobile number of the owner Nidhi Sharma,” said a shop employee.

“After this, the person who made the order called Nidhi, introduced himself as Lieutenant and said that the rules of the Army were different and he was sending a bar code which would have to be scanned to take the payment. Nidhi fell into the trap and even before she could understand anything she was swindled of Rs 28,000,” the employee said.